Who You Are
by LoveStoryMermaid
Summary: Set a couple weeks after the end of the movie. Aiden and Vivian are in Paris. A/V fluff. What happens when dinner and shopping go wrong?
1. Facing Who You Are

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters

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><p>AN: This is based off the movie version. If you don't like the movie pairingsplot, don't read this. I have seen both the movie and read the book and are aware they are very different. I happen to have seen the movie first, though, and got the idea of Aiden and Vivian stuck in my mind with Gabriel as the bad guy. Once again, I know it's just about the opposite in the book, but this is off the movie. Hope you enjoy.

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><p><span>Who You Are<span>

Aiden was smiling as he stared at her, chopping up cucumber for dinner's salad, her blond hair pulled up in a bun, some strands falling loose. Sometimes it seemed next to impossible to him that he was here with her, a loupguru. That itself would have been enough, but especially with everything they'd been through. They had been in Paris now for three weeks, away from her "family," and completely, effortlessly, happy. He was supposed to be putting the homemade rolls in the oven, and was just about to boyishly toss flour at her.

"Dammit!"

That idea suddenly went out of his head. Vivian didn't usually curse unless something was really bothering her. He turned to her, the smile fading from his face, "What's wrong?"

Vivian laughed wryly, probably remembering the previous times a couple weeks ago he'd asked the same question, but she still wouldn't look at him as she answered bitterly, "I cut myself."

So that was the problem, on top of the obvious, though their knives were steel, not silver. His expression softened as he slowly went over to her, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, turned away from him, but she didn't pull away as he said, "You know I trust you. Look at me."

Slowly, she turned around, but still didn't say anything, only flickering a glance for a moment, ashamed and embarrassed. Aiden brought his hand to her face, looking at her yellow eyes, brushing the stray blonde hairs aside, "These eyes are beautiful, and they're part of who you are."

Slowly, he leaned toward her and she allowed her lips to meet his, pulling him close, wrapping her arms around his back. When she pulled back, her eyes were back to their normal soft brown. She looked at him with a weak smile.

"You control who you are," he told her, "When are you going to stop being afraid of it?"

She looked at him sharply, "When are you going to stop running? From your father. We all have things we don't want to face," she gentled, "Eventually, we all have to. One day, I may have to go back and face what we've left."

For a moment he was caught off guard, but thinking about, "Maybe you're right."

She smiled a bit and nodded to the abandoned tray of bread, "Aren't you supposed to have put those rolls in?"

A short while later it was Vivian who was staring. She couldn't understand how he trusted her so completely; she certainly didn't, but she also wasn't complaining. He did understand when she really needed to be alone. And they had a perfect home here, surrounded by sparse woods, not too far from Montmartre, the art center of Paris. In fact, they were planning on going tomorrow, but for now she called, "Dinner's ready," served herself some salad and bread, and went to steal his spot on the sofa.

"Hey," he called, laughing, as he came back over with his plate, "That was my spot."

Vivian just shrugged, smiling.

She was up before him, the next day, as usual. She slipped quietly out of bed, looking out their window. It would be a gorgeous late summer day, the sun was already shining. She went to put on a pot of coffee before slipping on her favorite brown sundress and letting her hair fall down. By the time the coffee was ready, Aiden was up.

"Still going to Montmartre today?" she asked.

He looked out the window, "And not take advantage of the gorgeous weather? Of course we're still going, as long as you still want to."

She smiled in response.

Within the hour, they were shopping in Montmarte, strolling the blue, white, and red umbrella lined streets, stopping frequently to look at the artwork. At one corner, though, their attentions were diverted. Vivian saw a clothing booth and a little farther down across the street Aiden saw a food shack. Vivian noticed, smiled, and suggested, "Why don't you go pick something out to eat while I look at clothes."

He laughed, "Sounds good to me. Feel like anything in particular?"

"Surprise me."


	2. Don't Corner a Wolf

_"Surprise me."_

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><p>She was just leaving the shop, a couple purchases in hand, when she turned around on instinct. Sure enough there was a group of guys approaching her. There were only two reasons people she didn't know came up to her: either they were hoping to flirt or they were loupguru. The first didn't happen often and she could tell this group was not loupguru. Without thinking, she had backed up and away from the shop. Unfortunately, that put her up against a black iron fence lining the walkway. Maybe she was just overreacting, but the same instincts that had made her turn around and back up, told her she wasn't. She wanted these men to leave her be.<p>

It was then that one of the guys advanced up to her, pulling her close and holding up a knife before she could react, "Don't be like that. We just wanted to say hello."

Aiden had just ordered a couple of hotdogs and was walking back over, wondering where Vivian had gone, when he found her, surrounded, "Shit," he left the hotdogs where they were and hurried up to the group, "You fellows have a problem?"

Not thinking, Vivian had been looking in the opposite direction for Aiden and turned her head when she heard him and took a sharp breath, falling back against the gate and shutting her eyes, frozen with fear. Aiden saw it and saw her shaking, she'd already been too worked up. Half of his initial anger changing and put aside, he yelled, "Don't you know better than to corner people, and to show others respect!"

Among trying to gain control over the animal inside her, which had already been scared and cornered, was now injured, she could make out Aiden trying to help, but he didn't always think when it came to helping her and she whispered, strained, pleading, though not sure for what, "Aiden."

Between the surprise of actually having cut her and the change in her voice and the appearance of Aiden, the guys were surprised enough to lose their guard, backing up a bit only to let Aiden shove them apart, calling to her, "Go!"

She didn't think twice as she ran out of the corner and out of the square. For a fleeting second she was worried for Aiden's safety, but the animal inside of her wouldn't let her focus on that.

Apparently, they weren't as interested in Aiden as they were Vivian, as they man who'd been shoved, shoved Aiden back, but then made to run after Vivian.

Trying to control his own temper, Aiden called, "Unless you have a death wish, I'd leave her alone!"

At that they stopped, and the guy he'd shoved turned around, sneering, "And who are you? Her little boyfriend?"

Maybe he should let them go, try and run into her now, by now she'd have changed, and get what they deserve. It was people like these that made her kind so hateful and afraid of the rest of humanity.

Then, though, one of the others called, "Gastov, elle est partie. L'amusement est fini. Il n'est rien et nous voulons éviter le problème."

Knowing enough French to understand that one of them was saying to back off since she was gone and they didn't want trouble, Aiden was confused. First off, they had been the ones causing trouble and second, they didn't seem the type to back off. He followed their gaze and smirked. A police officer not too far away was starting to look interested.

Gastov also followed the others' gaze and agreed, walking away, but not without calling, "Better watch over that girl of yours, boy."

Aiden balled up his fist, but let it go, shaking his head. It was then that he noticed the bags on the ground. If he had to guess, it was Vivian's. The purse definitely was hers, and he smiled a moment when he checked the shopping. The black top and green knit hat was just her style, along with a red sweater cut for a guy and there was the painting of wolves they had bought earlier. He looked around to see if she can tell where she'd gone, but it's impossible. Though, if he had to guess, she'd most likely acted on instinct, thus run to the woods and was more likely to be headed home than back to the square in either form, so he decided to head home, taking a back road through the woods.

Sure enough, driving back Aiden stopped the car. He'd thought he'd seen a glimpse of white through the trees. Confirming his suspicions, the white form slowed down, and came a little closer to the car so that he could tell for certain it was a wolf. There was only one wolf in the world that would approach a car like that. It wasn't long to stop though, as she looked at him for a moment, before dipping her head once and then running off again. Aiden took a breath and nodded to himself at that. He knew what she was telling him, that she'd be okay and to head home.

When he got home, he looked around, called, "Vivian?" She could have beaten him back to the house, but he wasn't all that surprised to find that she apparently hadn't tried to. He went to the counter, pulling the red sweater, green knit hat and and artwork out of it. The black top he left in, though and went to grab shoes and a pair of jeans that he put in with the top. He picked the bag up and went outside and looked around. He wasn't surprised to still not see her anywhere. Still haunted from her parents, whenever she went for a run, she never changes too close to the house, so he walked into the woods a distance until he couldn't see the house, but still knows his way back and left the bag on the ground.

Vivian had heard a car coming and while she wasn't close enough to the road to be concerned, she didn't feel like she needed to be. In fact, she thought she might want this car to see her. She'd been right. She hadn't really had time to think how to let Aiden know where she'd go, but she'd figured he could guess and she'd been right. It was his grey car she saw coming up the road. She paused just long enough to let him know it was her, she was fine, and that he should go home. She'd be there soon enough.

She'd had time to calm down now and could think again. She turned to look back the way she had come. She'd managed to get her dress off so it wouldn't be lost when she changed, but now it was lying abandoned at the edge of the woods. To get it, she'd have to go all the way back. As she didn't feel like walking that whole distance back on two feet, she'd have to carry the dress back between her teeth, which she also didn't find that appealing. Well, she figured, then, that not too many people would come across it, and those who did would leave it, so she'd go back for it in the car later.

For now, she supposed she should head home. Aiden was probably worried. Having run primarily on pure instinct up until know, she let herself relax and truly enjoy and experience the world through wolf sense, the sharp smell of the fresh woods and the sound of all the animals running around, sensing her presence. She let herself enjoy the run, the power, the speed, the smoothness of it all, the cool dirt and soft pine needles beneath her paws. So that when she saw a bag in the distance she actually barked in laughter, surprise and thanks. It was the shopping and she had an idea of what was in it and who'd left it. After all, she was starting to get close to the house and he knew her.

She smiled at the memory of the first time she'd ran out in a temper, not thinking and so changing in her clothes and coming back to the house later, trying to sneak in the back way so as not to surprise him. If they change in their clothes, the clothes disappear, not being part of the loupguru, so she'd come back to the house in the same non-attire as Aiden had found her a couple weeks back in Bucharest. The only thing was, he'd been out on the back porch! He'd made some surprised cry, run inside, and a moment later had tossed a robe out the window. Always the gentleman.

After checking to be sure no one was around, she let herself change back and into the clothes Aiden had left her and walked back to the house. She paused a moment outside, before entering through the brown front door. She could tell he'd been waiting on the barstool, by the counter, when she walked in and he'd immediately turned around.

He'd seen her coming through the glass windows, but had decided to let her come in on her own time; she could take care of herself and he thought it best at the moment. He turned around when he heard the door open and she walked in, not quite elated like she usually was after a run, but seeming to be alright, but he was still worried, "Hey."

She smiled gently, "Thanks."

He knew she meant more than just the clothes and answered, "Sure. I know you don't like to change real close to the house and thought you might want them."

"Yeah, I'll have to go back for my dress later."

He allowed himself a small smile before asking, "You okay?"

She frowned as she looked at him, "Gabriel would have had them killed," she paused a moment, "I won't, of course, but, I, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't showed up when you did. No matter what I want or try to think, you can't corner an animal. Instincts take over."

Aiden just asked, "I know. You're cut?"

She knew what he was really asking and shook her head, "It's only critical when we're wolf. If anything, I'll just be a little more tired than usual today and tomorrow morning, but I'm alright."

Aiden went up to hug her and she returned it, reveling in the security he brought to her life. Pulling away, she said, "You know, I didn't just mean today when I said thanks. Also thanks for still trusting me and more."

Aiden nodded, "I know, but there's no need. I always have," he let himself smile, "After all, loupguru aren't monsters, but the best of man, best of beast. Right?"

She laughed, "Right" and kissed him before settling down on the couch and turning on the television.


End file.
